Q, this is bound to piss you off at some level....not that I care...but just so you know...
qball wrote:Wilbur, you're right. A whole lot of people created their own problems and their stories make for good soundbites.
But what about the rest of us? My wife's pay has been cut every year for three years. My pay has been cut close to 20 percent in four years. Strangely, our bills haven't. So I found a second job that I worked instead of sleeping. That job dried up a couple of weeks ago. The bills keep coming. Meanwhile, my corporate owner has seen his income go down too. He's only making tens of millions instead of hundreds of millions. I know he has had to cut back too, but it would be nice if some of his cutting back meant more money in the pockets of his employees, at least until we can start earning him gobs of money again, rather than god knows what he spends his wealth on.
The reality is, business owners are in business to make money. It's that simple. And like it or not, that is their RIGHT to do so. All trimming is done from the low hanging fruit first. Meaning that the 'easiest' cuts are at teh bottom. Right or wrong, that is the way it is.
The inflection I gleen from your reference of the tens of millions your business owner makes is somewhat bitter and seems to lend to the idea that this is somehow unfair. Well, it is unfair. Tough.
Not everyone gets a blue ribbon.
That is a lie of the more left leaning. Can't keep score in sports...can't have the children feeling bad...well...the realit is, there are 'winners' and 'losers' all over the world. Not that your boss is a winner and you a loaser, but you get what I am saying. You want a piece of his action? Then do what he did.
I do not believe that just because someone simply makes a shitload of cash, even a grotesque amount, it doe snot mean that anyone is entitled to some of their wealth.
In case you're wondering, I have a college degree, which I paid for myself without student debt. My wife has a master's degree, which she earned to get a better paying job. Both are real degrees aimed at employment. I suppose I could get another job, but I make more now than I could starting over in another career.
Good for you. I mean that. I do not have a college degree and it is tough sometimes for me as this fact can block me out of even a most natural progression of my career. However, a college degree does not gaurantee a high paying job, or even a well paying job. It's just means you are educated, and that can lend itself to your career path, but it is no gaurantee.
By the way, I truly was having a conversation this afternoon with a director of a government service that I want to work for, but even though I am more qualified in terms of ability and experience than many of those on the payroll already, I cannot join the club simply because i do not have a degree. It sucks, but it is one of the consequences of my own choices.
Yeah, I made some bad decisions but it would have been OK if things didn't keep getting worse.
We all do, however as bad as things get, they could be worse, and are bound to get better.
So, yeah, I want some of that CEO's pay because he got rich off the work of me and a bunch of people like me and the system has been set up so that me and a bunch of people like me don't have a lot of options other than to keep taking it or to take to the streets.
I disagree with everyhting you are saying here, other than you want some of that CEO's pay. I hate to tell you this, but he also got righ off of his own hard work. He built a machine of which you are only a cog. You are as replaceable as any other part in the machine. I am not sure why people have such a hard time with that idea.
I know my generation was lied to. We are the MTV generation. We grew up beleiveing we would all be rich and famous. but that is just not the reality. The truth is, we are just people, and the things we do for a living are just a means to an end, not the end itself.
If you are truly unhappy being a piece in the machine, then leave the machine. You are not a victim.
And that is the part that pisses me off the most. Is the victim metality and entitled attitude. not really of you, but in general. that is what is wrong with everyone. there is this idea that somehow we are victims of those more furtunate than ourselves and that somehow we are entitled to more than what we ourselves earn.
Our economy mostly runs on the sale of goods and services. People have to have jobs to buy that stuff, to make the whole cycle work. The system seizes up when most of the money is in the hands of a few people who can't spend it as fast as they make it.
no my friend, the system seizes up when people are spending money they don't really have, and when the collector comes to call it in...everything collapses. And that plays into the whole entitled idea. We are told we 'deserve' everything, so we go buy it. Even if we cannot pay for it.
Years ago, I was maing around $30k/yr. Not a lot of money. Was a single father, and could barely keep my ehad above water, but was doing alright. I found a crappy run down home that seemed like i might be able to afford to buy, if it would stay standing long enough to pass the inspection. My credit was okay, not great, but not horrible. So I go talk to a mortgage broker. With a straight face he tells me he can laon me up to $275,000 for a home loan. On a $30k/yr salary.
I ran from his office. And I knew where this was all going to go.
When these types of loans started flooding the market with buyers, the home values went through the roof.
But again, when the collector came around calling in the debt, when those ARM's and 80/20's etc came due....it was all over.
Only problem is, everyone allready spent the money...and the money wasn't real. It flat out did not exists. This period we are in is not the fault of the banks, or the CEO's, or the rich....it is EVERYONE'S fault....well...not mine...but mostly everyone.
And even though my wife and I don't have to work 3 jobs to pay our bills, we also do not live of of credit, and we are no more than a paycheck or two from looking for someone to blame ourselves.